(posted in Elemental forum as well)

To further the RPGness of the game I would suggest adding a character sheet for your heroes (don't know if something like this is already done).  Something that shows slots for items that your hero has found/bought/made(think HoMM 3 character/inventory screen)(could crafting or some similar system be a consideration?)  Maybe link quests/random dungeons with artifacts that have been lost since before the cataclysm (don't know if FE will continue with that story line).

Also, and to borrow from yet another game, I liked the way Warhammer 40k games melded the RPGness into an RTS game.  If it can be done well there, then it should most definitely be easy to see it fitting into this 4x TBS game.

My final thought, and this one is a bit out there.  It always bothered me in the 4x genre that there is a certain point within a given game that you just know the game is over and you've won.  I really think it would be great to have something to focus on beyond the clean up phase.  I always felt that I've created this great empire that has allowed me to defeat my enemies and have all of its functions working seamlessly and have put so much time and effort in creating this final product that it is a bit disheartening to realize that probably 70-75% of the way through its creation the game was in hand.  I want to be able to use this empire and all it's abilities towards another goal thats beyond just controlling the current map your playing on.

What if, and this may be a bit redundant but hopefully will help see where I'm trying to go with this, once you've cleared your map of all enemies and you've "won" that map/game, the map then expands outward again to show other continents of the world your on (basically starting the entire 4x experience over with the exception that you now have a fully functional empire backing you up, one that you've created).  Those continents would also hold other empires that are either still battling their local enemies or who have also conquered their immediate lands thus posing as either a great threat or great ally in a continued struggle. 

This kinda takes it further then just a 4x game but would really open the door for some great gaming and memorable moments or events, not to mention a truly massive world to explore/conquer (would also make Navy's and such that much more important as that would be the only way to migrate/settle the other continents.  Can't you see massive fleets running ashore on a new undiscoved land?).  I can foresee settling the entirety of your immediate land (or even forming alliances/capitulations with your immediate enemies)  At some point you would reach a cap on technology research and the game would become static from that standpoint, you've researched the best techs, now you get to really use them to their full potential instead of trivializing them as most 4x games seem to do.  Being that this game is in a fantasy setting and already has an RPG aspect built into it, I would think that further expanding the world would only lend to even more memorable game play.

Thoughts?

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